Lajpat Nagar to get country's first parking meters

Here's another solution to the parking mess in the city. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Delhi government are planning to install parking meters in Lajpat Nagar market as part of a pilot project.

This proposal is expected to rein in the increasing problems caused by the parking mafia. If the plan comes through, Delhi may become the only city in the country to have introduced parking meters for ensuring mechanised parking on the lines of top world cities.

According to Delhi chief secretary, Rakesh Mehta, the government agencies are in dicussion with a Dubai-based company for this project. "The proposal to install parking meters was made by the Automobile Association of India. According to them, installing parking meters will help resolve the problems faced by MCD during auctioning of parking sites. We want to start with a pilot project in Lajpat Nagar as that area is a complete mess as far as parking is concerned,'' said Mehta. A parking meter is a device used to collect money in exchange for the right to park a vehicle in a particular place for a limited length of time.

According to officials, the company is studying the Lajpat Nagar market to assess how many parking meters need to be installed, areas where they need to be installed etc. "The company will first have to identify parking space in Lajpat Nagar. They will make use of the GIS technology for this," said an official. According to sources, apprehensions have been raised on this project. "Many people feel that these concepts taken from other countries will not work in Delhi,'' added an official.

Mehta, meanwhile, said that it would take another three months to implement the project. "The company has to study the situation on the ground before the project can be implemented. Payment for parking can be done through pre-paid cards or by inserting coins inside the machine. The charges for parking under this project have not been fixed as of now,'' said Mehta. If the project is successful, it is likely to be implemented in other areas also.

"There is a need to regulate parking in the city and we should find different ways to do this. The installing of parking meters is one such concept. We will start with a pilot project in Lajpat Nagar and if it works it will be extended to other important places also. The project entails installing area-specific parking meters instead of individual parking meters,'' said EPCA member Sunita Narian. Delhiites usually have to face undue harassment at the hands of the parking mafia who tend to charge more than the required rate for parking.

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